In the independent validation, cohort 1 of n = 32 patients with obesity whose VAT gene expression was assessed by microarrays [16], all MC genes probe sets (KIT, TPSB2, CMA1) exhibited significant negative correlations with macrophage gene probes (CD68, Mac2, IGTAX(CD11c)). Here, ITGAX is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.